CARL KRUIZENGA

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CARL KRUIZENGA It is with great sadness that we announce the sudden passing of Carl Kruizenga on May 30, 2012 at Health Sciences in Winnipeg, at the age of 71. Carl leaves to mourn his absence his wife Coba, daughters Yvonne, Debbie, Carolyn, and granddaughters Amber, Megan and Emily. Also surviving him are his sisters Shirley and Margaret, and brothers Jan, Peter, Gerry and Johannes. He was predeceased by his parents and sister Audrey. Carl was born in 1940 in the Netherlands in the city of Groningen when it was occupied by the Nazis. Consequently, the first five years of his life as a baby and toddler were far from ideal. Many of the necessities of life were not available and the dearth of protein especially caused serious problems among growing youngsters. As a three year-old he survived a near-fatal head infection and eventually the war. In 1951 he immigrated to Canada with his family and settled in Winnipeg. After marrying and subsequent residence in numerous places in Canada he and his family returned to Manitoba where they have remained since. Certainly, Carl was one-of-a-kind. An inveterate optimist, he often saw opportunities where others did not. His fiercely independent nature and stubborn streak were definite assets when things needed to be done, though at other times these attributes deprived him of much needed relationships. Oddly enough, he was also a wit and had a lively imagination. He was inventive, industrious and inexplicably restless. He loved his own family and always did his utmost to provide for them even though he had his own, rather unorthodox ways, to accomplish this. Carl's sense of humour spared no one, least of all himself; his poor eyesight required strong glasses which led to the self-imposed moniker "Mr. Magoo". You had to like a man like that. Carl was an enigma that defied all of us in different ways. He could be tender and downright sweet and was mostly so; those of us who knew him also knew this was his essential nature. This then, was the man we loved and whose presence among us will now be sorely missed. A family gathering and cremation have taken place.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Jun 06, 2012